Bracing for a harrowing flight home

DUTCH HARBOR -- The F/V Exito is moored at the Coast Guard dock waiting to unload its crab.

The crew's work isn't done yet. Today, they were in the storage yard re-rigging the crab pots for smaller snow crab. That season starts in January. After they offload the boat this Sunday morning, they will head back out to the Bering Sea to pick up empty pots left behind when the season ended.

So they've got about one more week up here. Like us, they are anxious to get home.

We're flying out of Dutch late today -- we think. The weather changes on a whim here and, as it is one of Alaska's most dangerous airports, flights often get delayed or canceled.

Alaska Airlines says it cancels one in five flights to Dutch. That's why, in part, it's giving up this route to a local carrier in January. So with some luck we'll make it out of here tonight and be in Seattle shortly after midnight.